Daisey's frequent collaborator Jean-Michele Gregory directs the Public engagement that officially opens Dec. 7 and plays a limited run through Dec. 13 in the Newman Theater.

"Mike Daisey is funny, fearless and brilliant," Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis said in a statement. "He's one of those rare performers who is as fascinated by the world around him as he is by the world inside him, and he creates evenings that are delightful and genuinely thought-provoking. He's rapidly becoming one of the seminal theatre artists of his generation, and we are delighted he has a home at The Public Theater."

The Last Cargo Cult, according to the Public, features Daisey recounting "the story of his journey to a remote South Pacific island whose people worship America and its cargo. This narrative is woven against a searing examination of the international financial crisis that gripped the globe at the same moment. Confronting the financial system that dominates our world, Daisey wrestles with the largest questions of what the collapse means, and what it can tell us about our deepest values. Part adventure story and part memoir, he explores each culture to unearth a human truth between the seemingly primitive and achingly modern."

The Public production has set design by Peter Ksander and lighting design by Russell H. Champa.